School Injured and Killed Children – Campus Burials and Lost Bodies

MARIANNA – As Miami Beach and Miami Personal injury inwyers, we have represented numerous children, parents, and other individuals who were the victim of a public or private schools negligence or outright intentional wrongdoing. Recently, numerous newspaper outlets, online news organizations, and television stations reported on a tragedy to our youth that spanned almost 100 years.

On December 10, 2012, the University of South Florida reported that nearly 100 boys had died between 1900 and 1970 at the Dozier School for Boys. According to a Miami Herald report, this was detailed in a 114 page report following a University of South Florida anthropological and historical study. The Dozier School for Boys was a Juvenile Justice school for troubled youth who had criminal or other behavioral concerns. The boys, apparently, were killed trying to escape the premises. There was suggestion in the article that, at some point, this was a legal practice.

The School opened in 1900 as the Florida State Reform School and was shut down on June 30, 2011. After controversy over abuse that was both physical and sexual, the state Department of Juvenile Justice shut the school down. The report indicated that there were burial sites on grounds and that bodies were unaccounted for. Disturbingly, the deaths were apparently unreported by the headmaster of the school to the legislature. Between 1925 and 1926, a boy by the name of Thomas Curry died and his information was not passed along to the legislature.

Apparently, there were financial motives underlying the existence of the children at the school. This was, at at least one point publicly admitted by the school in the way of complaints that the schools enrollment wasn’t enough to harvest crops.

Our firm practices entirely in the field of serving injury victims. The sad and shocking abuse that never should have happened at Dozier is very often actionable. Nothing can bring back the innocence of someone who was wronged. But the civil justice system has avenues for recovery.

Call us if you or your child was the victim of a school’s negligence or a school teacher’s abuse. If you or your child were injured or abused by a teacher, you should report it. And, if your child was injured because of a school’s negligence, you should similarly report that. Sometimes, a school’s poor oversight can allow incidents, fights, accidents, or other terrible events to occur. And, if you decide to pursue a civil action, call us. A lawsuit may be appropriate. As Miami Beach and Miami personal injury lawyers, we are compassionate and handle lawsuits against schools for their negligence, the negligence of their employees, and even intentional acts by teachers or other employees of the schoools.